


Now Son

by FormlessSnow



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Cancer, Cancer Arc, Death, Heavy Angst, I'm Sorry, Love, M/M, Mpreg, Orphans, Photographs, Requested, Sad, Songfic, Terrible Things Songfic, The Author Regrets Everything, photo album
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-10 23:40:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18418295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FormlessSnow/pseuds/FormlessSnow





	Now Son

Billy looked at his son, who was classifying a sample of cells from his science class. He had worked to buy that microscope with his own money, and Billy was prouder than he ever could believe. He loved his son, and he wished he could do more than snap a photograph and have three printed out.

He remembered Steve’s smile the day that he had done the same for the first time. One for the scrapbooks and one for each of their wallets. It had been Dustin’s first day home, and he had been napping on Billy’s chest. Steve had been wheeling himself around their apartment while he healed, and when he saw he had quickly picked up the camera to take a photo. Steve had been happy. It was Dustin’s sixteenth day alive.

Today was Dustin’s sixteenth year in the world, and he was smiling. He was working hard toward his goals. He had the same style of hair that Steve had worn when he was that age, and it broke Billy’s heart. Billy set the camera down and picked up the box that Steve had begged Billy to give their son that day. He sat down across from Dustin as the teen cleaned up his space.

 

**_By the time I was your age, I'd give anything_ **

**_to fall in love truly was all I could think_ **

**_That's when I met your mother, the girl of my dreams_ **

**_the most beautiful woman that I'd ever seen._ **

 

“Dustin?” Billy asked quietly, reaching for his son’s hand. Dustin met his eyes.

“Yeah, Dad?”

“Your… Your mother wanted me to tell you the story of how we met today. And to give you a gift.”

Dustin nodded, taking the box and setting it next to his microscope. His smile faltered some, and it wrenched Billy’s heart. They didn’t generally talk about his past with Steve, only ever on the twenty-seventh of January. The anniversary. To bring him up on Dustin’s birthday, in the middle of August, was a different thing that Billy hated doing. But he had promised his Stevie.

“It was my first day at Hawkins High. I had signed up for the basketball team, and I got on pretty easily next to him.”

“Pretty easily?” Dustin had thought his nerdiness was from Steve. He had no idea that he was the son of two athletes.

“Yeah. Beat your mother’s score. He was… He was called ‘King Steve,’ before I got there. I remember he didn’t even really want the title- he was just naturally cool. Really cool. I was… I was kind of an asshole to him. I was afraid, of the way I was feeling. I was so often afraid, so… I became angry. Violent. I kicked his ass once, when I was misreading something. I thought he’d hurt someone.” He shook his head. “That’s another part of the story. But I fell in love instantly. He encouraged me to keep playing. He tutored me when I needed help. He was smart, smarter than me.” He smiled, remembering. “His ex dumped him when she was drunk. He was upset by it, and he threw himself into the game.”

“When did he hurt someone?”

“Never. He was helping someone. But I saw my stepmom scared, and I saw Steve lying to me. So… I hit him. I’ve felt horrible ever since. But he took it. He planted his feet, and he took every hit. And after, he came back for more.” He sighed.

 

**_She said, "boy can I tell you a wonderful thing?_ **

**_I can't help but notice you staring at me_ **

**_I know I shouldn't say this, but I really believe_ **

**_I can tell by your eyes that you're in love with me."_ **

 

“How did you fall in love?”

“After I’d hurt him, he proved me wrong. He proved to me that he hadn’t had a malicious bone in his body. He helped me, and helped everyone, and he was the kind of guy who walks little old ladies across the street. Like you. Then one day… He asked me out. I don’t know why, but I said yes. He took me out, he’d dressed real nice. And…” Billy closed his eyes, shaking his head before returning his gaze to his son, tears streaming down his face. “He gave me a rose. I think that was when I realized that I loved him.”

 

**_Now son, I'm only telling you this because life can do terrible things._ **

 

_ Billy remembered the tears he had shed because of Steve. He was staring at Steve, the closest to him. He was one of only two people crying, and he hated it. Steve looked beautiful, looked like he had laid down on the floor and fallen asleep. Billy wanted to shake his shoulder, to wake him and tuck him into the passenger seat before starting the drive home. He wanted to see Steve jump up and scream that he had only been asleep for the past two days. _

 

**_Now most of the time we'd have too much to drink and we'd laugh at the stars and we'd share everything_ **

**_Too young to notice and too dumb to care_ **

**_love was a story that couldn't compare._ **

 

“He was always the designated driver. He made sure I never overdrank, and when I needed somewhere to stay he would have his window open and a ladder fallen down. I could climb in some days. Others, I was in so much pain he’d walk me through the house instead. We spent time down in the woods, on a flat rock down by the stream. He’d kiss me like he meant it, and I carved our names on the surface.”

“It sounds like you loved him.”

“I did. He was amazing. He told me I was amazing. He had the stupidest smile sometimes. He passed it on to you. I can see it sometimes.”

“When did I come along?”

 

**_I said, "girl can I tell you a wonderful thing?_ **

**_I made you a present with paper and string_ **

**_open with care now, I'm asking you please_ **

**_you know that I love you will you marry me?"_ **

 

Billy remembered the smile on Steve’s face when Billy had gotten down on one knee. He remembered the way that Steve had cried, nodding fervently on the rock. He’d accepted the ring and hugged him tightly.

“You came along the day I proposed. He said yes, and he was happy. We spent the night sipping on champagne and laughing, the way we always had. It went a little farther than normal, and a few weeks later he came to me crying. He told me he was pregnant, and… I had to help him. I bought us a house. We got married- not legally, because we weren’t allowed to. But Hopper officiated it, and he told us he’d hold us up to the same standards as anybody else.”

“So Hopper didn’t care…”

 

**_Now son, I'm only telling you this because life can do terrible things_ **

**_You'll learn one day, and I hope and I pray that life shows you differently._ **

 

“I loved your mother. I was the second person he ever loved, and that was enough for me. The fact that it was enough for me made Hopper okay with it. He wanted me- and Steve- to be happy. He’d had to deal with the aftermath of so much from your mom.”

 

**_She said, "boy can I tell you a terrible thing?_ **

**_It seems that I'm sick and I've only got weeks_ **

**_Please don't be sad now, I really believe_ **

**_you were the greatest thing that ever happened to me."_ **

 

“How old was I when you got the diagnosis?”

“Two weeks. Steve was holding you, and he passed out. We had to rush him to the ER. They thought he was hemorrhaging. That it’d be a quick fix. He wasn’t. It wasn’t.”

Dustin nodded, tears falling. “I know.”

 

**_Slow, so slow, I fell to the ground on my knees_ **

**_So don't fall in love there's just too much to lose_ **

**_If you're given the choice then I'm begging you choose to walk away, walk away_ **

**_Don't let it get you, I can't bear to see the same happen to you._ **

 

_ Steve had woken up two hours after, and he had a pounding headache. Billy was waiting for him, outside, as the doctors spoke with him in hushed, urgent tones. Steve had gone silent for a moment, before his response. _

_ “Thank you. Please send him in.” He had a tremor of fear in his voice when he spoke to Billy. _

_ “It can’t... No. Please.” _

_ “I have six weeks still.” Steve had offered a weak smile. “They’re sending me home. I can stay with you.” _

_ “Please… Get better.” _

_ “I’d rather see you get better. Please?” _

_ “No. No!” Billy held him tightly and begged. _

 

**_Now son, I'm only telling you this because life can do terrible things._ **

  
  


“I burned the death certificate. His tumor… It crushed his brain. He wasn’t lucid when he went. But he did smile at me. He smiled and told me, ‘It hurts.’ Then… He was gone.” Billy sighed. “Before he went, he sat with you. He told me to give you that when you turned sixteen. He made it four months before he left- the first four of your life. He told me that however long he had left he just wanted to be with you and me, and it’d be the happiest of his life.”

 

Dustin sighed, tearing up, and he took the gift his mother had worked hard on for him.

 

Inside, he found a photo album.  _ ‘To: Dustin. From: Momma.’ _ The pictures were of Steve with Dustin, smiling at him brightly. At the hospital, holding him dear. Holding a toy out to him- a toy he still had, sitting on his shelf. A picture of Steve after his first treatment, dazed and hugging Dustin close.

 

As the pictures progressed, three months’ worth, Steve seemed to be getting sicker and sicker. His head was slightly swollen. His hair fell out. He became more unfocused and tired. He held a ribbon, a grey one, in all of the treatment and dialysis images, and there was a large scar from trying to drain it on the side of his head. Dustin sobbed, clutching the photos close, wishing for more of his mother. The grey cancer ribbon fell into his lap from somewhere near the back.

 

He never left home without it again.


End file.
